Hungarians
Neighborhoods They Settled In: Buckeye, Central, Woodland Hills, Ohio City, Industrial Valley, Tremont
First Immigrants - 1848
About 3,000 Hungarians came to Cleveland immediately after the war of Independence in 1848. Hungarian immigration to Cleveland was the largest during 1870-1924. In about 1889 a Hungarian community was formed on the west side. A group of Magyars settled on Lorain and Columbus Roads because of the steel mills in the Falts and the west side market. On the east side, there was a small group of Hungarian Jews around the Buckeye Road area. Another was located from E. 55th to E. 65th near Woodland. The first multiple family migration to Cleveland was in the 1880’s and they settled in the Holton Avenue area. By 1900 there was a strong Magyar section on the East side. The Buckeye Road colony began at E. 75th on Woodland, extending east to E. 116th and then to the city limits. It also moved south to Shaker Blvd. and then to Imperial Avenue; to the west it went to E. 116th St. Theodore Kundtz was a successful Hungarian settler who created his own cabinetmaking company in 1876. He encouraged other Hungarians to come to Cleveland and employed them. He built "Hungaria Hall" on Clark Avenue in 1890.
The first Hungarian religious congregation was founded by Jewish Hungarians. The Temple B’nai Jeshurun was established in 1865. Their services were in private homes until 1887 when the Anshe Chesed Synagogue was built on Eagle Street. In 1909 they erected a temple on Scovill and E. 55th. Other Jewish congregations were formed. Rabbis H.A. Liebovitz and Kneseth Israel founded the Oheb Zedek synagogue at Scovill and E. 38th in 1904. This group later became the Temple on the Heights.
The Hungarian Roman Catholics built St. Elizabeth’s Church on the East side in 1891. St. Emeric’s was established in 1904 on Bridge Ave. and W. 24th. St. Margaret was erected in 1921 on the east side.
The first Hungarian Greek Catholic Church was established in 1893 and is called St. John the Baptist Hungarian Greek Rite Catholic Church on Buckeye Road. On the west side, St. Michael’s Hungarian Greek Rite Catholic Church was founded in 1906.
Catholic:
St. Elizabeth, St. Emeric, St. Margaret of Hungary, St. Patrick
Byzantine Rite:
St. John First Hungarian Greek Catholic
St. Michaels
Protestant:
First Hungarian Lutheran Church
First Hungarian Reformed Church
First Hungarian Presbyterian Church
Shaker Square United Hungarian Baptist
West Side Hungarian Reformed Church
West Side Hungarian Lutheran Church
Organizations:
William Penn Club
Hungarian American Singing Society
American Hungarian Federation
Early Magyar Settler's Family
Hungarian Academicians Club
1942 Report by the WPA:
The Cleveland Hungarians settled in colonies. The factory established by Theodore Kundtz helped to bring the earliest Hungarians settlers to the west side neighborhood between Lorain and Abbey Street from Columbus Road to Franklin Avenue. In 1882 Joseph Schwab was the only Magyar living on the east side. Several other Hungarians secured employment at the Eberhardt Co. and this east side neighborhood was begun. By 1920 more than 20,000 Magyars lived in the so-called Buckeye Road neighborhood which extended from E. 75 on Woodland Avenue east to East 116th, south to Shaker Blvd, east to the city limits, south to Imperial Avenue and west to E. 116th Street. In the Buckeye Road neighborhood, the Hungarians built a complete business section. There was also a settlement of Hungarian Jews from E. 55th to E. 65th Streets in the vicinity of Woodland Avenue. Most of those residents have now moved to the Buckeye Settlement or to the suburbs. Many Hungarians have also settled in Bedford.
Some 28,000 Hungarians attend the Magyar churches. The others attend non-Magyar churches. There are two Roman Catholic, one Greek Catholic, and five Protestant churches in the East side Hungarian settlement. One Roman Catholic, one Greek Catholic and three Protestant on the west side. The east side Magyar churches are the First Hungarian Reformed at 2854 E. 79th. There is also the Bethlen Hall Unit at 2856 East Blvd. (founded 1891). There is First Magyar Presbyterian at 12604 Buckeye Road, (Founded 1914). There is First Hungarian Lutheran at 8021 Rawlings Avenue (founded 1905). There is Buckeye Heights Baptist at 11720 Buckeye Road, (founded 1921). St. Elizabeth Roman Catholic at 9016 Buckeye Road, (founded 1892). St. Margaret’s Roman Catholic at 2927 E. 116th Street (founded 1921). St. John’s Greek Catholic at Ambler Avenue and Buckeye Road, (founded 1897).
The west side Magyar Churches are:
West. Side Magyar Reformed at 1946 W. 32nd, founded 1906
West Side Evangelical Lutheran at 1900 W. 28th, founded 1936
West Side Baptist at Fulton and Chatham, founded 1917
Saint Emeric Roman Catholic at 1904 W. 22nd, founded 1904
Saint Michael Greek Catholic at 4502 Bridge Avenue, founded 1925